Where can I find information on Aikido Tournaments? ?

Question

Where can I find information on Aikido Tournaments? ?

Answer 1

I think Yoseikan Aikido may have competition as well

Answer 2

the only tournament style is shodokan, or tomiki, aikido. try googling these.

Answer 3

Traditional Aikikai Aikido - the linage most closely related to the final Uchideshi of O-Sensei - does not have tournaments.  Aikido is a defensive art, and the idea of a tournament puts me in mind of two people facing off and then competing to see who could run away from the fight faster.

O-Sensei felt that the idea of a tournament in Aikido would generate a spirit of competitiveness that was completely against the spirit of harmony.  In Aikido, your primary enemy is the agression in yourself.  In place of regular tournaments, we have seminars, where we bring in a high level master instructor to provide an intense weekend of training and sharpening our skills.

When an attacker attacks an Aikidoka, there are only so many ways to strike, grab or hit someone.  Once the attacker commits, everyone knows what he's doing.  The question is how the Aikidoka will react, because he has a myriad of different ways of meeting the attack, none of them good for the attacker, and only he knows how it's going play out.  No one in their right mind would initiate an attack in such a circumstance.  This is why sparring is an irrational term in Aikido.

Another reason that Aikido does not have tournaments is that it's just dangerous.  Many martial arts have been sanitized to take out the dangerous things for the purposes of sport competition.  In Aikido, the attacker will not pull his punch, and many of the techniques threaten serious damage to the uke if he does not react appropriately.  In a competitive atmosphere where "winning" becomes important, there would be a severe risk of serious injury.

Aikido takes years to become proficient, and no one ever quits learning.  The skills learned there are well suited for street brawls, but you will likely not see a particular clear technique develop in such a situation, as the dynamic changes so quickly compared to the controlled atmospher of the dojo.